2008 Hhr Ss

[kodos78]

2008 HHR SS Review.



So, GM wants to give me 0% for 72 Months? Where do I sign?

My Supercharged Mustang GT (475bhp) is my daily driver. I drive about 40 miles to and from work each way. Well, that's not entirely true. You see, I get to work from home 1 day a week. Oh, and I also Carpool with a coworker.



So, it's not all bad. The Mustang gets about 18mpg combined the way one must drive it on the 405 (stop and go traffic). But, with Premium approaching $5/gallon and GM offering to give me a HHR SS (30mpg Hwy) for a monthly payment that is basically my cost difference in fuel, who am I to resist?

There is no way I would give up my Mustang. No, this car would be the third vehicle in our growing stable. But first, I'll have to find one.

First, a mini-review of Chevy's Vehicle Locator Page. It stinks. My first try to find an HHR SS involved lots of "Window Sticker Unavailable". Any browser, Mac or PC. Then, the site starts to work about 4 hours later when I check on it again. Cool! Now I can find an HHR! Then, I get the sinking realization that all of the cars in the 100 mile radius I selected are automatics.

At least I think they are. You see, this is the other thing wrong with the Chevy Vehicle Locator Page. You can only search inventory on model and trim, not options. On Ford's website when I searched for my Mustang I could put in color choices, and transmission. On Chevy's, I can't.

So after clicking through dealer after dealer's inventory, I give up. ALL of the cars appear to be automatics .

Why do I not want an automatic I ask myself? After all, your lovely bride would be able to jump in and drive it when she wanted something more fun than her Town and Country.

Well, the first strike against it is that it loses 30 hp to the stick. The second strike is that it is a 4 speed. And the third strike is that gears are not manually selectable.

No Dice.

So I call up a dealership near me, and get a very helpful salesman. He evidently has a better inventory search system at his fingertips as he finds me 3 HHR SS's around 70 - 120 miles away from me. These are evidently the only 3 HHR SS sticks he can find in Southern California. Wow!

He says he's going to try and do a Dealer Trade. 5 hours later, he tells me that he cannot get them to give up their SS's. At any of the dealers. Damn.

He is a very nice guy and volunteers the name of the Dealership. I call the closest one up which happens to have the color I want. The salesman verifies they have it and says they are going to 'hide' it for me if I can get down there within two hours (by now it was almost 6pm and they close at 9pm).

I frantically call my wife, have her come and pick me up at work with the kids and we head down to Long Beach to Champion Chevrolet.

Wes, our salesman shows me that he hid the car behind the dealership.

First impression? This car is gorgeous. I mean jaw droppingly good looking in my opinion. The Imperial Blue Metallic sets off the Giant 18" Chrome Wheels and the blacked out grille looks quite tasteful.



I am smitten.

Getting inside the HHR, I notice that the interior layout looks great, but the plastics used are pretty terrible in some areas. The A-Pillar really sticks out.



But the sticker price of $24,000 brings you back. This is a LOT of car for the price.

I go for a test drive with the salesman. The clutch is VERY light in this car. I thought the clutch in my Mustang was pretty light for a muscle car, but this is effortless. My wife will love learning to drive a stick in this car.

Then I realize, I cannot shift into reverse? WTH? The salesman tries as well. He fails.

Mr. Goodwrench is called, and he shows us that you have to lift up a little ring around the shift knob. Stupid us, I've never driven a car with a lockout mechanism like that. Live and Learn!



I must say, I was not smitten with the exhaust note that emitted from the SS at idle. It's pretty quiet, but is a little rough sounding. But I have to remember that I am driving a car with 4 less cylinders than my GT. The doors slam with a satisfying thud that I haven't heard on a vehicle this side of a Mercedes. It definitely is much nicer sounding than the first generation Scion Xb that my coworker has. His car sounds like it's going to fall apart when you close the door. The new Xb looks more substantial, so I have no idea how that one feels. The HHR is very nice however.



I take it for a drive. The car is very smooth. Very nicely soundproofed. I pull into the dealership and Wes gets a sly look on his face. "If you really want to see what she can do," he says in his best conspiratorial voice, "take it out to the back of the lot". He explains that this is where guys buying Z06 Corvettes are demoed just how fast 60mph comes up.

It is a nice open back lot, with a few lightpoles strewn around. There's absolutely no one back there. I could cry.

I rev the HHR a little and floor it from maybe 2k. A little wheelspin, and she's off! Fun! I keep the revs under 5k just to pay lip service to the break in procedure. I then create an impromptu slalom course with the light poles. I don't go too nuts, because I am not used to the car's balance (and it's also FWD, and most of my recent experience is RWD) but I have a few notes.

One, I forgot to turn off Stability Control, or even put it into Competition Mode. I noticed the "ESC" warning on the DIC once or twice, but I didn't feel a large invisible hand slap me, or shove the gas pedal or change the car's balance. It was very subtle and it felt good.

Second: This "trucklet" can really handle! It would have eaten up my Convertible GT. It would have eaten up the old Neon SRT4 that I had.

The tires had tremendous bite, and the chassis was very predictable and unflappable. With my stock SRT4 I was very nervous when reaching the perceived limits. While I didn't hit the limits in this car, the handling was very linear and precise.

The steering felt fantastic. I had a 1997 C5 Corvette (bought it when it was merely 1 year old), and this thing has a much nicer steering feel. MUCH nicer. That I feel says a lot about the SS marque in its current iteration.

The other sad thing (retrospectively) is that the C5 I had wasn't screwed together nearly as nice inside or out as this car! Believe it or not, GM has come a LONG way in the last 10 years.



We sign the paperwork and I get to take the car home. It's been a long night, and I don't get back home until 11pm. I run over some nasty bolt on the way back and that ruins my night.

On the freeway, the HHR was fun, stable, always composed. I also saw 35+ mpg on the DIC when I was doing 65mph and kept a light foot on the gas. Mind you, this is with an engine that hasn't been broken in yet!

I will say that the suspension while not as harsh as my SRT4 is not nearly as comfortable as my GT Convertible. That's neither good nor bad, as they are two different types of cars -- but is a data point for you to chew on.

I park the HHR SS outside :'( and the minivan and the Mustang sleep inside the garage. My wife doesn't want to park her van outside, and the Mustang is not getting ousted from its stable. I'll have to work on my wife

Other impressions? The seats seem nice, could use some extra bolstering if you are on the Streets of Willow Springs, but are quite nice for daily use. They do not keep you pinned like the SRT-4, but that would get old after a while. And there's more lateral support than the Mustang GT seats. The suede inserts are nice, and keep you planted.

Cloth seats are the way to go in this car. They look very hardy and have a pleasing look especially with the suede inserts.



I will add to this review as I get more seat time in the car. I plan on it being the 'family car' this weekend instead of the minivan. Go to Costco, maybe the beach, etc... Stuff that we wouldn't do in the Mustang due to trunk space and comfort issues when driving far.



Closing thoughts for now: If the HHR SS is this good of a performer, I'd be quite happy in the Cobalt SS/TC! I haven't had a chance to try no-lift shift or launch assist, but I've not yet got 200 miles on the odo.... But I will be testing those two features out shortly.

[CobaltSScrazy]

very nice choice! Good luck with your purchase

CobaltSS

[psece]

Awesome Choice! Car is beautiful. I have never seen the color before and have to say that it looks like the best from what I have seen. Congratulations and thanks for sharing with us....

[KillerMRK]

Dude, very cool car. Now you wont have to go grocery shopping in a Minivan.

[69Firebird400]

Nice ride! The HHR SS is one of my favorite Chevys. Unique looks (improved over the "regular" HHR, IMO) and a nice powertrain.

I'd get the manual too BTW.

[PA Dweller]

Looks very nice, enjoy. It's just too bad GM couldn't find a better auto transmission for this car.

[kodos78]

Thanks CobaltSScrazy!

On the test drive, I actually thought about you. I thought if the HHR is this good, you are going to LOVE your Cobalt SS when you get it!

GM hit these out of the park performance wise.

Originally Posted by CobaltSScrazy

very nice choice! Good luck with your purchase

CobaltSS

[kodos78]

All: Thanks for the congrats, I've enjoyed every minute in the car. It's very toss-able. You can flick it around with the tiniest movement of the steering wheel.

As far the transmission is concerned: I know that people who have the auto like them, but honestly -- GM should not have applied the SS badge to an automatic model with that many drawbacks. It needs to have a manumatic at the very least, no hp compromises, and ideally at least 5 gears. The fact that GM doesn't think it can take the stock power of the powerplant is a little concerning. It definitely is not an SS model you can feel comfortable hot rodding without some major transmission work.

Originally Posted by PA Dweller

Looks very nice, enjoy. It's just too bad GM couldn't find a better auto transmission for this car.

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by kodos78

All: Thanks for the congrats, I've enjoyed every minute in the car. It's very toss-able. You can flick it around with the tiniest movement of the steering wheel.

As far the transmission is concerned: I know that people who have the auto like them, but honestly -- GM should not have applied the SS badge to an automatic model with that many drawbacks. It needs to have a manumatic at the very least, no hp compromises, and ideally at least 5 gears. The fact that GM doesn't think it can take the stock power of the powerplant is a little concerning. It definitely is not an SS model you can feel comfortable hot rodding without some major transmission work.

It still isn't 260 HP, but 230 HP is still better than 170 HP. I just hope they are finding a better auto tranny for this car, and not saying this transmission is good enough for the long term. Hopefully something with paddle shifters at least.

[kodos78]

Oh, I agree completely. But they should have called it HHR Sport or something. The SS model should be no compromise -- hands down performance oriented. The automatic in this application has quite a few drawbacks. Once they have a worthy enough autobox for the HHR, then it can be part of the SS package.

Originally Posted by PA Dweller

It still isn't 260 HP, but 230 HP is still better than 170 HP. I just hope they are finding a better auto tranny for this car, and not saying this transmission is good enough for the long term. Hopefully something with paddle shifters at least.

[CHASLS2]

No LS3 forget it.

[kodos78]

FWD Sport Compact with an LS3. Ok.

Originally Posted by CHASLS2

No LS3 forget it.

[Koasterking]

Congrats on the new car. Nice color, I might add. I like it! The chevy dealership near me has one in the metallic blue. People who took it for a spin absolutely looked it.

[E. Haskell]

That looks GOOD.

BTW - the HHR interior looks a heck of a lot better than GM's other hatch - the Matrix/Vibe.

[kodos78]

Tell me about it, I want to puke whenever I see the interior of a modern Toyota product. Their interiors have that weird gray plastic that I guess is supposed to remind you of aluminum?

And then, they have odd angles and cuts in the dash that makes you feel ill. I get sick looking at it. Look at how clean the HHR design is. It feels comfortable. The Matrix/Vibe just looks like crap.

Originally Posted by E. Haskell

That looks GOOD.

BTW - the HHR interior looks a heck of a lot better than GM's other hatch - the Matrix/Vibe.